Key dates Stephen Wiltshire
1974 April 24th, Stephen is born in London, England
1977 Stephen is diagnosed with autism
1979 Starts at Queensmill School, London
1981 Stephen becomes fascinated with sketching London buildings
1981 Wins various drawing competitions, including Cadbury's
1982 Stephen sells his first drawing – of Salisbury Cathedral - to the former Prime Minister Edward Heath
1982-3 Stephen learns to communicate through speech
1987 Stephen appears in the BBC programme ‘The Foolish Wise Ones’ about the so-called ‘savant syndrome’. The programme shows Stephen drawing from memory an accurate sketch of St. Pancras station, which he had briefly visited once
1987 Drawings, Stephen’s first book is published
1988 Stephen visits New York for the first time and produces a series of acclaimed drawings of the city – the trip heavily influenced his work. ITN followed him during his trip
1989 Cities, Stephen’s second book is published
1990 Stephen leaves school and starts a drawing and painting course at City and Guilds of London Art School
1991-2 Trips to Venice, Leningrad, Moscow and Amsterdam
1991 Floating Cities, Stephen’s book of drawings made during his visits to Venice, Leningrad, Moscow and Amsterdam, is published and reaches number one in the bestsellers lists 1992 Stephen is invited to visit Tokyo and undertakes a drawing commission of landmarks
1992 Stephen visits the USA for a second time, travelling to Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles (plus Hollywood studios), Las Vegas, Arizona and New York, drawing the landmarks, cars and people he encounters
1993 American Dream, Stephen’s book of American cityscapes from his recent tour is published
1994 Stephen’s work is exhibited in the Empire State Building
1995 Stephen features as a case study in An Anthropologist on Mars by British neurologist Oliver Sacks
1998 The City and Guilds of London Arts School awards Stephen a postgraduate degree in painting, drawing and printmaking
2001 The BBC features Stephen in a second documentary, Fragments of Genius, in which he produces a perfectly scaled aerial illustration of a 4-square mile area of London which he draws from memory
2003 The Orleans House Gallery, Twickenham holds the first major retrospective of Stephen’s work
2005 Stephen returns to Tokyo to make a panoramic drawing – the largest of his career – of the city
2005 Stephen then visits Rome and Hong Kong, and undertakes panoramic commissions of the cities’ skylines
2006 Stephen visits Berlin – commissioned by Spiegel TV to draw the city
2006 Stephen is awarded an MBE for his services to the art world
2006 Stephen and his family open a permanent gallery for his work in London’s Royal Opera Arcade, Pall Mall
2007 Stephen appears live on RTL to unveil his panorama of Frankfurt following a helicopter ride over the city
2008 Stephen’s travels include Madrid, Dubai and Jerusalem, where he undertakes more cityscapes
2008 Release of the Extraordinary People one hour documentary in the UK based solely on Stephen's career
2009 Stephen receives a GG2 Leadership and Diversity Award, presented by Sarah Brown, wife of former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown
2009 The Power List 2009 includes Stephen in its compilation of ‘Britain’s Most Influential Black People’
2009 Stephen undertakes a panorama of New York, which is shown live on CBS over 5 days
2010 The Power List 2010 includes Stephen in its compilation of ‘Britain’s Most Influential Black People’
2010 Stephen visits Sydney and Shanghai and completes vast perspectives of city landmarks
2011 Stephen is awarded The Genius Award at Carnegie Hall by the McCarton Foundation
2011 The Power List 2011 includes Stephen in its compilation of ‘Britain’s Most Influential Black People’
2011 Stephen becomes the 'new face of pen and ink' through Staedtler's worldwide distribution of Stephen's favourite pens
2011 Stephen received an Honorary Life Fellowship from the Society of Architectural Illustrators, presented by artist Ben Johnson.
2011 Stephen is endorsed by the bank UBS to head their 2012 advertising campaign
2011 Stephen visited Australia, New York, Germany and Holland to fulfil various art commissions
2012 Hosts his 1 hour chat show in Tokyo in celebration of the city's new Sky Tree tower, the tallest of its kind in the world.
2012 Releases his new 'London Alphabet' collection depicting 26 London landmarks from A (Albert Bridge) to Z (Zebra crossing at Abbey Road) to celebrate the publication of his first book 25 years on
2013 Stephen undertakes a commission by the Monte Carlo Rally and meets HRH Prince Albert of Monaco
2013 Stephen is commissioned by London's new skyscraper the Shard to draw the view from the top floor of West Europe's tallest building.
2013 Completes his third work titled 'Globe of Imagination' in his globe series, based on a 360 degrees birds eye view of an imaginary city
2014 Stephen is commissioned by Singapore PH to create a panoramic drawing of the city, which became part of the National Collection of Singapore the celebrate the nation's 50th birthday. 150,000 visitors attend his exhibition in just 5 days, setting an attendance record in the history of the country.
2014 Stephen is commissioned by Tahincioğlu to create a panoramic drawing of Istanbul to celebrate of the opening of Palladium Tower, one of the tallest new skyscrapers of the city.
2015 Stephen and his team celebrated the 10th Anniversary of opening his Central London gallery.
2016 After a single helicopter ride to memorize Houston's sweeping landscape and unique architecture, Stephen worked publicly at The Galleria between April 19-23 2016 drawing a large, detailed panorama of the Bayou City from memory, a project titled Elevate Houston.
2016 Milenio and the Mayor of Mexico City invite Stephen to complete his view of Mexico City on a giant canvas at the Tower of Bancomer.
2017 Stephen joins Royal Caribbean in the Med to create a special artwork for Harmony of the Seas, the largest ship in the world also participating in their advertising campaign.
2017 Stephen heads further advertising campaigns for LG and Nissan, using Google's Tilt Brush technology to create a 3D drawing for the first time.
2017 Stephen is chosen to create a new artwork for the Empire State Building, NY that will be displayed at the new entrance of the famous landmark following the completion of its refurbishment in 2019.
2018 Stephen and his team successfully raises funds for the completion of his feature-length documentary titled Billions of Windows via Kickstarter receiving nearly double the finance initially required. The documentary records our artist's personal and professional life in detail, having our crew following him for over three years in the UK and abroad.
2018 Stephen receives the HollyRoad Champion award in Malibu, Los Angeles for his inspirational work in a starstudded Gala.
2018 Stephen opens this a new school that was named after him, The Stephen Wiltshire Centre in Fulham, London.
2018 Stephen is commissioned by the Embassy of Qatar, Washington DC to create a large scale drawing of Doha, Qatar that is completed at the Phillips Collection in Washington DC.
2019 Stephen’s feature-length documentary titled Billions of Windows premiers in London’s Everyman cinema.
2019 The newly redesigned 80th floor observatory of the Empire State Building, New York officially reopens bearing Stephen's design based on his panorama drawing of the city he created in 2017 in the very same building as a part of his live drawing show.
CONTACT DETAILS:
Zoltan Szipola, Managing Director Email: [email protected]
Annette Wiltshire, Art Director Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0) 7948 350 444 Mobile: +44 (0) 7950 99 89 79
FURTHER RESOURCES
Stephen's full bio and key points: http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/biography.aspx Latest press releases and Q&A: http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/press_office.aspx Stephen's London Gallery: http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/london_gallery.aspx
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stephen.Wiltshire.Artist Twitter: https://twitter.com/StWiltshire Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/StWiltshire YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/stephenwiltshire Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/stwiltshire/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-stephen-wiltshire-gallery-ltd-
Billions of Windows A documentary by Stephen Wiltshire